Since moving to Tejas I haven’t been much for running with music. The original motivation was because I had no idea where I was going and didn’t want to make a wrong turn, leaving me stranded somewhere across the Mexican border with only my wits and running shoes to get me home while single-footedly handedly taking down a major drug cartel and saving an entire village from a natural disaster (calling Hollywood, I smell a blockbuster! What do

you mean “no”? Need I remind you of the gem Volcano? I could be played by Jet Li or Samuel L Jackson. Get back to me.).

Anyway, last week was a bit of a cutback week, finishing up with 44 miles. Not much to report really. There was some speedwork, some easy days, a short-ish long run. Pretty standard. Rewind to the “running with music” part… The other reason I haven’t been running with music is I lost my iPod Shuffle some time after moving to Austin. During my trip to Florida the week before I picked up a new (4th) generation shuffle. It’s alright, but still not quite as good as the 2nd gen version. Keeping with the theme of everything in Austin, I got the closest color to UT orange.

Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, I’ve really gotten to enjoy running with music. It’s like a performance enhancing drug, without the side effects (yes, my head is naturally this big). The downside is I have zero intention of running any races with music, so I don’t want to become reliant on the unearthly boost it gives me. I’ll keep training with it for now, but I may need to impose restrictions and sanctions if things get out of hand. Until then, let’s keep the tunes coming. What’s on your running playlist?

<

p>*Combining ideas… just Google “volcano running“. You’ll be amazed at what you find.
**Hey Hollywood, keep me in mind… it wouldn’t be the worst idea you’ve sent to the big screen ::cough:: Witless Protection :: cough ::